16 June marks the start of Refugee Week until 22 June, and coincides with international events to mark World Refugee Day on 20 June. Every year Refugee Week is celebrated around the country, providing the opportunity to acknowledge the success of refugees and humanitarian entrants in Australian society. The theme for Refugee Week this year is Courage, Determination and Resilience. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman said Refugee Week is an opportunity to recognise the people who come to Australia through the Humanitarian Programme. This year Australian Humanitarian Programme will offer 18,750 places to people in need. The Minister said that Australia will continue to run an orderly Humanitarian Programme, increase the proportion of the Programme allocated to women and children who are fleeing violence, and ensure that it is sufficiently diverse to react to evolving humanitarian issues.
New pre-apprenticeship program for Karratha students in 2020. An initiative between the McGowan Government and the Western Australian resources sector will enable Karratha students to complete a pre-apprenticeship course from 2020, with the opportunity for future employment in the mining sector. From next year, year 11 students from Karratha Senior High School will be able to obtain a Certificate II pre-apprenticeship qualification in Electrotechnology Electrician or Engineering Mechanical Trade at North Regional TAFE. The two-year program will require Karratha Senior High School students to attend TAFE on a full-time basis during Term 4 of Year 11 and Term 1 of Year 12. The program will meet the requirements of the Western Australian Certificate of Education. The Premier said these trades will address local industry needs and encourage the employment of apprentices by local employers, and bridge the gap between training and employment. This new program is part of the Pilbara Collaboration Charter, an initiative between the State Government and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia and collaboration partners BHP, Chevron Australia, CITIC Pacific Mining, Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto, Roy Hill, Woodside and Yara Pilbara, which was developed in response to the Premier’s request for industry and Government to work together to deliver further social and economic benefits to the Pilbara region. These resources companies have committed to interview the students who complete these pre-apprenticeship courses with North Regional TAFE.
Premier Mark McGowan and Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery today announced two ground-breaking automation courses will commence at South Metropolitan TAFE’s Munster campus from Semester 2, 2019. This is the first achievement of the Resource Industry Collaboration between the McGowan Government, South Metropolitan TAFE and Rio Tinto, with Rio Tinto contributing $2 million towards the new training program. The Collaboration includes Rio Tinto and other major employers, such as FMG, BHP and Komatsu, representatives from TAFE WA, Scitech and The University of Western Australia, and was created by the McGowan Government in 2018 to build the skills and capabilities of the Western Australian workforce. The new automation courses will position WA workers to take full advantage of the many exciting opportunities automation is expected to deliver to the industry and economy. The two new courses are: Working Effectively in an Automation Workplace — this micro-credential course offers a skill set that trade qualified workers and apprentices can use to improve or upgrade their skills in automation to meet future workforce and industry needs; and the Certificate II in Autonomous Workplace Operations — to be delivered as a pilot VET course for secondary students from Cecil Andrews College, Gilmore College, Baldivis Secondary College and Karratha Senior High School.
There will be a temporary closure of General Skilled Migration on Monday 24 June 2019 and will re-open in the first week of July. Any incomplete application from 9am on 24 June will be deleted. Immigration SA will be closing the General Skilled Migration (GSM) state nomination 190/489 application system from 9am on Monday 24 June and will re-open in the first week of July (the date and time will be confirmed at the start of July), to complete system updates for the new program year. If an application 190/489 has been commenced they need to be submitted and paid for prior to the system being closed. From 9am on 24 June, incomplete application will be deleted, this includes applications that have been “saved but not submitted” and applications that have been “submitted but are still awaiting payment”.
The department of Home Affairs has announced that a 5.4 percent Visa Application Charges (VAC) increase in fees will apply to applications made on or after 1 July 2019 on most visa subclasses. Visa Type Current Fee From 1 July 2019 Student $575 $606 General Skilled Migration $3,755 $3,958 Graduate Temporary Subclass 485 $1,535 $1,618 Partner $7,160 $7,547 Parent (Contributory) first instalment $340 to $3,855 $358 to $4,063 TSS-STSOL $1,175 $1,238 TSS-MLTSSL $2,455 $2,587 ENS/RSMS $3,755 $3,958 Business Migration $4,975 $4,975 Significant Investor Visa (SIV) $7,310 $7,705
The Australian government is under increasing pressure to resettle refugees on Manus Island and Nauru, with Minister Peter Dutton speaking to Insiders about his future plans. Department of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has stated that he is determined to find new homes for the approximately 800 people left in Australian detention centres offshore. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the US has rejected around 300 refugees from Australia-US transfer deal, but 591 have already left for the US. Originally, the Trump administration had said that 1250 people would be resettled in the US under the deal made between then leaders Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama, but Minister Dutton was sceptical that this number would be reached. This is expected to be a hot topic of debate when Parliament begins sitting again.
Stories of foreign backpackers on working holiday visas being threatened with sexual assault have been reported by the ABC. There are fears that without more stringent measures in place to ensure compliance, upcoming visa changes will lead to increased exploitation and abuse of holidaymakers in regional and remote Australia. New working holiday visa changes are set to be implemented next month, which will allow workers to stay a third year in exchange for six months extra farm work. However, in light of recent horror stories being reported of terrible living conditions, sexual assault and restrictions of movement on young, often female workers, there are calls for more regulation on employers. Experts say that by extending the visa for an extra year will only leave more workers liable to abuse by farm and fruit-picking employers, without enough oversight of employment and living conditions.
Normally, applications to the AAT must be submitted within a prescribed timeframe. Failure to do so ordinarily relieves the applicant of their right to seek merits review of the decision of the Department. However, as of recently, the Full Court of the Federal Court has handed down a decision in the case of DFQ17 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection that allows individuals and businesses whose merits review applications had been lodged to the AAT after the statutory deadline to be reconsidered in some circumstances. Background of the case In DFQ17, the appellant made a protection visa application which was subsequently refused by the Minister. In the refusal letter, the appellant was provided with a right to apply for merits review including the timeframe within which she could validly apply to the AAT for the review. The refusal letter did not specifically set out the deadline in absolute terms (i.e. 13 March 2017), instead it provided a formula using legislative provisions for determining that deadline, such as the date the person was taken to have been notified. The appellant applied to the AAT outside the prescribed timeframe, and consequently the Tribunal found that it had no jurisdiction because the application was made after the deadline. The appealed the AAT’s decision to the Full Court of the Federal Court. Under what circumstances can the “late” AAT applications be reconsidered? The Full Court held that, by using that (complex) formula, as opposed to stating the deadline of 13 March 2017 in absolute terms, the letter did not comply with s 66(2) of the Migration Act 1958. s 66(2) Notification of decision: (2) Notification of a decision to refuse an application for a visa must: (d) if the applicant has a right to have the decision reviewed under Part 5 or 7 – state: (ii) the time in which the application for review may be made. The Court held that the Minister still had not, at law, validly notified the appellant of the refusal. Therefore, the notification was deemed not fully valid which consequently also meant that the merits review application had not been lodged late. As such, the Court held that the Tribunal had jurisdiction to review the Minister’s decision and ordered it to do so. This decision opens gateway to possibly hundreds of Tribunal decisions (in which the Tribunal dismissed “late” applications for merits review) to be affected by jurisdictional error and may well also be overturned in the Federal courts. Any challenges ahead in maintaining the High Court’s decision? If the Minister wishes to appeal the decision, he may bring the appeal on the grounds covering s 412(1)(b) of the Act which states that a “Part 7-reviewable decision must be given to the Tribunal within the prescribed period.” However, if the Minister has not issued a valid notification under s 66(2), the prescribed period will be taken to have not commenced yet, in which case the application submitted to the AAT before the period commences cannot be considered to have been provided to the Tribunal within the prescribed period. As such, the decision of the High Court should withstand, and even if the Minister is to succeed on appeal, it would only change the remedy order that the Tribunal would use i.e. to order the Minister to validly notify the appellant of the refusal decision. In this instance, the appellant would need to make a fresh appeal application to the AAT within the prescribed timeframe for which the date which would be stated on the new notification letter from the Minister. Key Takeaways For the time being, any decision by the AAT that an application for review has been dismissed as a result of “late” application is likely to be affected by jurisdictional error if the refusal letter does not clearly state the time period within which an application for review must be filed. The dismissal letter from the AAT does not have to be recent, it can be challenged even if it had been provided years ago. Getting Assistance If you had previously lodged an application to the AAT which was dismissed by the Tribunal on the basis that it was supposedly “out of time” or “late”, it is worthwhile to seek immigration legal advice as to whether your case would have a reasonable prospect of success. At Migration Centre of Australia, we are well-trained to handle highly complex matters. Book one of our agents for professional advice by calling 02 4626 1002 or email us to book in a time at admin@mckkrs.com.au. We also speak fluent Hindi, Nepalese, Punjabi, Turkish, Tamil, Portuguese and Marathi. If one of these isn’t your language, we can also help you arrange an interpreter.
A Gazette Notice issued on 4 June 2019 by the Attorney-General’s Department advises that there will be increased fees for Administrative Appeals Tribunal and all Court matters. The Annual Federal Courts and Tribunals Fee Increases From 1 July 2019 Notice advises application fees for the Migration and Refugee Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) will increase from $1,764 to $1,787 from 1 July 2019. Standard fees for Migration Matters in the General Division of the AAT will increase from $920 to $932. There will also be increased fees for filing, document and other services in the High Court, Federal Court and Federal Circuit Court.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has posted the following notification on the News Section of their website: The AAT is currently seeking feedback from applicants, representatives and other parties who were involved in a case that was finalised by the AAT between… The AAT is currently seeking feedback from applicants, representatives and other parties who were involved in a case that was finalised by the AAT between 1 December 2018 and 30 March 2019. Those who received the survey now have until 5.00pm (AEST) Thursday 6 June 2019 to provide feedback about their experience with the review process and dealing with the AAT. The survey will give the AAT important information about users’ opinions on the overall review process and their experience when dealing with the AAT. The AAT will use the information to identify areas where we can make improvements. All survey responses will be treated as confidential. Key survey results will be included in our 2018-19 Annual Report.